RENT
by TerraXxXVentus21
Summary: Set in New York City's gritty East City, a group of bohemians struggling to live and pay their rent. This is their story: RENT.
1. Seasons of Love

"_525,600 Mintues."_

That's all that we have.

That's all that these 8 friends have in common.

This is their a story. Their dreams played out in a musical.

"_525,000 moments so dear."_

Each one of these people have cried at night.

Sang a broken song.

And cried in someone arms.

"_525,600 minutes."_

And each one of them have fallen in love with someone else.

"_How do you measure, measure a year."_

The lights come up so show a stage, in a theater. 8 friends, side by side. A single light shining on each one of them. They all hold the same expression.

"_In daylights, in sunsets, in midnights, in cups of coffee."_

They all sing the same notes. No harmony. Unison.

"_In inches, in miles, in laughter, in strife."_

But even though they sing the same notes, they all sing with their own voice.

"_525,600 Minutes. How do you measure, a year in the life.?"_

They sing together. Their voices growing even stronger as one. Their voices are the bonds that hold their friendship together. An unbreakable bond.

"_How about love?"_

But this is a story. And like every story there is a plot.

"_How about love?"_

And with every plot there is a beginning, middle and end.

"_How about love?"_

And even with all that, there are the essentials a story needs.

"_Measure in love."_

Death, Anger, Romance, Drugs, Sex, and of course Love.

"_Seasons of Love."_

Well, trust me, all of those essentials are in this story.

"_Seasons of Love."_

Focus on a young girl. She's around 25 years old. Light red hair and blazing blue eyes. She's a Lesbian.

"_525,600 minutes. 525,000 journeys to plan. 525,600 minutes. How do you measure the life of a woman or a man?"_

Now look at a young man on the opposite side of the stage. He is 26, with hair as white as snow. When he's in the light many people say his hair resembles the color of silver. He is Gay.

"_In truth that she learns, or in times that he cries. In bridges he burns, or the way that she dies."_

All 8 people burst into song. All of them clapping and swaying to the song that they sing.

"_It's time now, to sing out though the story never ends. Lets celebrate remember the year in the light of friends!"_

Smiles light up their faces. They look at each other as if they were the only people on Earth. As if their in their own worlds.

"_Remember the love."_

The same girl as before sings her heart out. Singing about whatever comes to her mind. Her voice, everyone's words.

"_Oh, you gotta, you gotta remember the love. You know that love is a gift from up above. Send love, give love, spread love. Measure, measure your life in love!"_

Everyone comes to a stand still, looking to the empty crowd that listens to their song.

"_Seasons of Love."_

8 friends. Side by side.

"_Seasons of Love."_

This is their song.

"_Measure your life. Measure your life in love."_

The lights go out, and their story begins.


	2. Rent

Chapter 2: RENT

The screen comes up on a small video feed. Images of random shoot across the screen. Images of people, the homeless, buildings, streets, neon signs and everything in between. The camera feed is old. Black spots litter the edges as though it was there for effect. While watching this, a voice is heard.

"December 24th, 1989, 9 p.m., Eastern Standard Time."

The video is still going. More images appear, but nothing is shown twice. Nothing has a set face or a stamen of important. It's all just random. Like life.

"From here on in, I write without a script. See if anything comes of it. Instead of my old shit." The voice continues.

The video feed grows into a real screen. The image it shows is that of a homeless man spraying the windshield of a car. The man inside of the car is yelling at the man on the outside.

"No, get out of here. Hey." The man in the car says.

The homeless one doesn't say anything, he just continues to spray the car. He soon changes to a wiper and wipes off the windshield that he had just sprayed. His intensions are now clear. He wants money for 'cleaning' the car. The driver was slowly but surely getting pissed.

"I said, get off the car!" He spat as he drove away, causing the man to spin out of the way into traffic.

Across the way, a man of 22 held a camera pointed at the scene in front of him. He held an old camera in his hands, a kind of camera that winds up on the side in order to record. After the winding stopped, he put the camera on his bike, shaking his head. He rode away into the night, heading toward his humble abode, his apartment.

_ "How do you document real life, when real life's getting more like fiction each day?"_ he said, traveling down the street, cars passing him for his slowness.

_"Headlines, bread lines, blow my mind and now this deadline: Eviction or Pay. RENT!"_

In a distant building along the way, a man in an apartment is holding a guitar, longing to play its gentle rhymes. For some reason, the notes sound so wrong.

_"How do you write a song when the chords wrong, though they once sounded right and rare."_ He says softly to himself.

In this longing, the lights in his apartment turn off and with a grumble, he goes across the room to the switchboard, hoping for a Christmas Miracle.

_"When the notes are sour, where is the power you once had to ignite the air?" _He says to himself.

Down the road, the man is still riding his bike toward the apartment.

_"We're hungry and frozen."_

_ "Some life that we've chosen."_ The man in the house mimicked, turning the switch only to have sparks fly out at him.

_"How we gonna pay?"_ Both men are saying by this time, the man with the bike walking the steps to his room.

He walks in the door, staring at the man still by the switchboard, his roommate, only to hand him a piece of paper. The man looks at it with an angered expression. It reads: Eviction Notice.

_"How we gonna pay last year's rent?"_ they both looked at each other.

The man with the bike is a tall man with shoulder length pink hair and striking blue eyes. He has a scarf around his neck from the coldness of the outdoors with his mustard yellow jacket, bike still in hand. The man with the guitar is a 21 year old with fiery red hair that runs passed his shoulder that ends in spikes and also extend. With his piercing green jade eyes, an idea clicks in his head. He looks at his roommate who seems to have the same idea in mind. At that moment, the phone rings.

"We'll light candles." The red head says, running over to a drawer to pull out at least a dozen candles.

The pinkette, choosing not to ignore the phone, ran over to answer it.

"Hello?"

"Hey man, guess whose back in town. Its Riku, man, Throw down the key." A familiar voice echoed in his ears.

The man runs to the balcony window pulling a key out of his pocket in the due process. He unlatches the window, and opens it to see a man down below him, waving. The pinkette smiles and throws his key down below, the man known as Riku, dropping it onto the ground.

"Hurry up." The man in the window shouts and closes the window.

Riku picks up the keys and smiles. He is a middle aged man, around 25, with long silver hair reaching his shoulders. He walks near the door where three men are standing. One of them turns to Riku.

"Hey man, you got a light?"

"Yeah," He replies.

"Give me that shit." One of the bigger guys says, lunging at him.

Riku pushes him away, and sprints in the opposite direction, into an alley.

"Get that son of a bitch!"

The three guys follow after him full speed only to catch up with him. They push him down, one holding him and the other two punching him in the stomach and face. The one holding him pushes him to the ground and grabs his bags, while the other two run away. Riku, thinking they were done, starts to get up, only to receive a swift kick to the stomach. With a grunt of pain, Riku falls to the ground, but the man wasn't done there, he pulled the heavy jacket that clung to Riku like extra skin. Now he was on the ground, broken and beaten.

Back in the apartment, the two men are lighting candles, dozens of them little the semi-lite room. The both of them look extremely cold. Their burning everything they can get their hands on that they don't need.

"_How do you start a fire when there's nothing to burn and it feel like something's stuck in your flue?" _the red head asks.

"_How can you generate heat when you can't feel your feet and their turning blue?"_ the pinkette asks back, hoping for an answer.

The two of them look at each other until an idea pops into their heads. The pink haired man reaches for a thick book while the red head tears a poster of him off of a wall. They both put them in a trash can.

"_You light a mean blaze."_ The pinkette says, lighting his book.

"_With posters."_ The red haired man says, sharing the flame with his poster in hand.

"_And screenplays."_

"_How we gonna pay last year's rent?"_ They ask each other, in vain, as neither of them have an answer. They continue to stare at each other as the fire between them burns.

Back in the alley, Riku gains his footing and leans up against the ice cold brick wall. He touches his face to realize his bleeding all over.

"_How do you stay on your feet when on every street its 'Trick or Treat' and tonight it's 'Trick'_?" He quietly says to himself.

"_Welcome back town Oh I should lie down, everything's brown and Oh I feel sick." _He says slumping to the ground slowly.

"_Where is he?"_ The Pinkette says, leaning out the window.

With a thump, Riku hits the ground_. "Getting dizzy."_

The red head joins the other man out by the window, looking out onto the city below them. Fire litters the streets. People all over are screaming and shouting about the latest new: Eviction.

"_How we gonna pay?" _the two men ask each other.

Down below their room in a blond boy, around 20, holding the Eviction paper in his hands, lighting it on fire. He, like many others are outraged about the notice.

"_How we gonna pay last year's rent?"_ looking across the street, many people are lighting their eviction papers on fire and watching them fall to the ground. All of Avenue B is in an uproar over this. The two men go back in to the house grabbing random objects to put into their fire. The pinkette picks up a script of his, flipping through the pages, the red head copying his movements.

"_The music ignites the night with a passionate fire."_ The older of the two reads.

"_The narration crackles and pops with incendiary wit."_ The red head copies, almost mimicking.

"_Zoom in as they burn the past behind, and feel the heat of the futures glow_." The two men look at each other, seeking warmth from their massive fire.

"_How do you leave the pas behind when it keeps finding ways to get to your heart? It reaches way down deep and tears you inside out till your torn apart. RENT!"_ they yell as they grab their lite trash can and hurl its contents into the street.

"_How can you connect to an age where strangers, landlords, lovers your own blood cells betray?"_

They watch as the city gets torn apart, one person after another. On the street below, a slick black car rolls but by their apartment. A new face comes out, he has brown hair with stormy blue eyes. He's dressed in a suit with a heavy work jacket on top of it. The people of Avenue B corner him again his car, all shouting the same thing.

"_What binds the fabric together with the raging shifting winds of change keep ripping away?"_

The man laughs at the crowd and looks up and the two men up top.

"_Draw a line in the sand and then make a stand."_

The two men laugh and look at each other motioning to each other.

"_Use your camera to spar."_ The red head says.

"_Use your guitar."_ The pinkette mimics.

"_When they act tough you call their bluff."_ They shout at the man down below.

"_We're not gonna pay."_

People are still throwing charred pieces in the street, or more specifically, the man by the car.

"_We're not gonna pay last year's rent, this year's rent, next year's rent_." They shout, angered that their pleas were not heard.

"_We're not gonna pay Rent. Cause everything is RENT!"_

The people continue to shout and holler at the man in the suit, with flames littering the streets.


	3. You'll See

Chapter 3: You'll See

_Previously:_

"_We're not gonna pay."_

_People are still throwing charred pieces in the street, or more specifically, the man by the car._

"_We're not gonna pay last year's rent, this year's rent, next year's rent." They shout, angered that their pleas were not heard._

"_We're not gonna pay Rent. Could everything is RENT!"_

_They continue to shout and holler at the man in the suit._

After all the commotion, the same young blond from before is laughing. He can't be more than 20. He looks down below to see a man around 24 looking up at him. He has short spiky brown hair with clear blue eyes and is hold drumsticks in one hand, and a tub in the other. He points upward to the young boy and smiles. The blond smiles back and the brunette walks away from the commotion. After a while, the people surrounding the man in the suit begin to disperse, leaving him alone by his car. The man shakes his head and turns to his car only to see a homeless man leaning against the driver's side door.

"Hey bum," he says, getting the man's attention, "Get your ass off the Range Rover."

The homeless man just smiles at him, smacks his car and walks away.

"Terra," The pinkette yells, "that attitude toward the homeless is exactly what Namine is protesting."

Terra looks up and laughs, "Namine is protesting losing her performance space. Not my attitude. Come down here I want to talk to you."

The two men up top turn to go downstairs when the red head looks over the balcony to see the young blond. Their eyes lock for a second, and the blond smiles. The red haired man almost smiles back before walking into the room to catch up with his roommate.

XxX

Downstairs, the pinkette is waiting on the sidewalk connecting to the apartment building waiting for Terra. When he walks up, the pinkette looks at him and frowns, pulling out his camera.

"Close up: Terra Coffin III, our ex-roommate who married Tifa Grey of the Westport Greys. His father-in-law bought several buildings on the block and a nearby vacant lot, owned to Tent City. Terra hopes to evict all the homeless from Tent City to build a Cyber Studio." The pinkette says, shooting footage of Terra tearing down pictures that promote a protest against him.

"Axel, you're looking good for a guy coming off of a year of withdrawal." Terra says, looking at the red head who propped himself on the hood of his car.

"What do you want, Terra." Axel says, irritated.

"Well, what do I want? Well my investor-"

"You mean your father-in-law." The pinkette interrupted.

"Right," Terra said looking down, "Read about Namine's performance in the Village Voice, got pissed and sent me down here to collect the rent."

"What rent?" the pink one asked, putting his camera down.

"This past years rent, which I let slid." Terra replied, looking at the pinkette.

"'Slide?' You said we were golden." The pinkette said looking at Axel.

"When you bought the building." Axel added.

"When you were living with us," the other man continued, "Remember you lived here?"

Terra looked between the two men, "How could I forget. You, me, Riku, and Namine. How is the little drama queen anyway, Marluxia?" he asked turning to look at a poster on a nearby wall.

The poster showed a young girl with long blond hair and dull blue eyes. She looked as if she was pretending to be a tiger. Around her was the lettering: Performance Protest.

"She's getting ready for a performance." The pinkette replied.

"I know. Still her production manager?" Terra asks, ripping another poster off of the wall.

"Not exactly." Marluxia relies, looking down.

"Still dating her?" he pesters on.

"…..I was dumped."

Terra paused, and turned to look at the two men.

"She got a new man?"

"Well, no."

"What's his name?" he asked, laughing.

"Kairi." Both Marluxia and Axel reply. The pinkette gives Axel a look then they both looked at Terra.

He looked surprised at first. He mouthed the name that they had told him before he realized what they had just told him. After a littler thought, realization struck him and then he sprung into a laughing fit.

"That's for being so understanding." Marluxia says, pissed.

"You expect sympathy from the guy who shut our power off on Christmas Eve?" Axel asked.

Terra, still laughing his ass off and tearing down posters replied, "Got your attention, didn't it?"

"_What happened to Terra? What happened to his heart and the ideals he once pursued?"_ Axel asks, walking towards said man.

"_Any owner of that lot next door has a right to do with it as he pleases."_ Terra says, nodding in a random direction.

"Happy Birthday, Jesus." Axel responds, walking back to the car.

"The rent." Terra asks.

"_You're wasting your time."_ Marluxia says.

"We're broke." Axel adds.

"_And you broke your word._ This is absurd." The pinkette continues.

"_There is one way you won't have to pay."_ Terra tells both men.

"I knew it." Axel whispers.

"_Next door, the home of CyberArts you see, and now that the block is rezoned. Our dream can become a reality. You'll see boys."_ Terra tells them, walking over to the curb to balance himself on.

"A state-of-the-art, digital, virtual, interactive studio, I'll forgo your rent, _and on paper guarantee that you can stay here for free if you do me one small favor."_ Terra explains looking at the men.

"What."

"Convince Namine to cancel her protest."

"Why not get an injunction or call the cops?" Marluxia asked.

"Yeah I did and their on standby," Terra says, _"But my inverters would rather I handle this quietly."_

"You can't quietly wipe out an entire Tent City then watch _It's a Wonderful Life_ on TV." Axel yells.

"You wanna production films and write songs_? You need somewhere to do it. It's what we used to dream about, think twice before you pooh-pooh it. You'll see, boys."_ Terra says, looking directly at them.

Terra walks away to an empty lot, and points at them. He motions to the empty lot.

"_You'll see the beauty of a studio that lets us do our work and get paid. With condos on the top, whose rent keeps open our shop just stop the protest and you'll have it made."_ Terra explains, turning toward them.

Neither of the men look convinced, so Terra frowns.

"_You'll see, or you'll pack."_ Terra finishes, walking back to his car.


	4. Sora

Chapter 4: Sora

_Previously:_

_Terra walks away to an empty lot, and points at them. He motions to the empty lot._

"_You'll see the beauty of a studio that lets us do our work and get paid. With condos on the top, whose rent keeps open our shop just stop the protest and you'll have it made." Terra explains, turning toward them._

_Neither of the men look convinced, so Terra frowns._

"_You'll see, or you'll pack." Terra finishes, walking back to his car._

* * *

><p>'<em>Dat dat du dat du dat dat'<em>

_ 'Dat dat du dat du dat dat'_

A young boy sits on the sidewalk with drums stick beating a beat on a tub. He doesn't pay attention to anything around him. His surrounds go unnoticed. He continues to drum.

'_Dat, dat du dat du dat dat'_

_ 'Dat dat du dat du dat dat'_

A young couple walk by, and the girl notices the boy playing. She reaches in her pocket and pulls out a quarter and tosses it onto his tub.

"Here you go." She whispers.

The boy looks up to see the couple walking away, he looks back down at the quarter that interrupted his playing. He shrugs his shoulders and puts the quarter in his pocket.

"Merry Christmas." He says at the girls retreating back.

He grabs his sticks again and begins playing once more.

'_Dat, dat du dat du dat dat'_

_ 'Dat dat du dat du dat dat'_

While he's drumming, he hears noises down the way, in an alley.

'_Dat, dat du dat du dat dat'_

_ 'Dat dat du dat du dat dat'_

"Hello?" he asked.

The noises become louder and louder. The boy began to get worried. He picked up his tub and book bag, along with his sticks and headed toward the sounds. Walking down the alley way he sees a man on the ground coughing up blood. He runs to his side.

"Oh my god, are you okay honey?" The brunette asked the man.

"I'm afraid so." He replied, coughing up some more blood.

"Did they get anything…?" he asked.

"I didn't have any money but they took all my stuff." The man replied.

The brunette felt bad, he reached into his pocket and pulled out a handkerchief and brought it to the man's bleeding nose.

"No, I'm fine." The man says, backing away from the boy.

The boy looked a little upset. He just wanted to help.

"I'm Sora." He said.

"Sora," the man said, slowly, "friends call me Riku."

Sora looked at Riku for a long time, watching him attempt to clean off all of the blood off of his face.

"Come on. Let's get you cleaned up." Sora said, standing up.

Sora extends his hand to Riku, who takes it. Slowly, Sora raises him up to his feet, careful not to hurt him.

"We sortof have to hurry," Sora starts, "I have a Life Support meeting to go to."

"Life Support?" Riku asks, looking at Sora.

"Yeah," Sora says looking down, "It's for people with AIDs…..people like me."

"Me too." Riku states, looking into Sora's eyes.

One thought was going through Riku's head.

_This young boy really has AIDs?_


	5. One Song Glory

Chapter 5: One Song Glory

_Previously:_

"_We sortof have to hurry," Sora starts, "I have a Life Support meeting to go to."_

_ "Life Support?" Riku asks, looking at Sora._

_ "Yeah," Sora says looking down, "It's for people with AIDs…..people like me."_

_ "Me too." Riku states, looking into Sora's eyes._

_ One thought was going through Riku's head._

_ This young boy really has AIDs_

* * *

><p>In the same apartment as before, Axel is sitting on a couch, picking notes on a guitar. Across that way, Marluxia is putting on his jacket. He looks over his shoulder at Riku.<p>

"I was gonna go try and find Riku," he says, "You wanna come?"

Axel just looks at him over the guitar and then goes back to playing the same tune as before. Marluxia looks at him longingly and sighs.

"I thought maybe we could all grab some dinner." He continues.

Alex puts down his guitar by his feet and looks up at Marluxia. He laughs a little while pointing to his jeans pocket.

"Zoom in on my empty wallet." He smirks.

"Touché."

Alex looks down and picks up his guitar again. He begins the same tune over again. Marluxia walks over to the door and turns around to look at Axel once more.

"Remember to take you EZT." He reminds him. Axel nods.

Marluxia looks at the red head with a hard look then walks out the door, shutting it behind him. Axel looks at the strings under his fingers. He plays the same tune over and over again.

"_I'm writing one great song before I…."_

He begins to play a melody, one that he has played before. He gets through the first sequence going on to the second one. On the transition, a note sounds awfully sour. He repeats the transition only for the note to remain sour. Upset, he puts his guitar to his side and stands up. He walks out of his room and up the stairs of the apartment complex, entering the roof. There he see the starry night sky, and remembers a past self. Someone he is no longer.

"_One song, Glory. One song before I go. Glory, one song to leave behind. Find one song, one last refrain, Glory. From the pretty boy front man, who wasted opportunity."_

In his memory he sees a younger version of himself, only with shorter red hair. Still spike, same piercing eyes. He's on a stage surrounded but 3 other people: a band. His band. He is singing a song.

"_One song. He had the world at his feet. Glory in the eyes of a young boy. A young boy."_

While singing his song, he looks into the crowd and he sees a young boy. He has short blond hair and sky blue eyes. The boy is sitting alone, staring intensely at Axel. For a moment, their eyes connect; Green clashing with Blue.

"_Find Glory beyond the cheap colored lights. One song, before the sunsets. Glory on another empty life."_

Over time, the two become very close. Axel remembers him well. His smile. His laugh. And even his cries. Axel remembers them all. As time goes on, the two become more than just friends.

"_Time flies, time dies. Glory. One blaze of Glory."_

He remembers everything about this boy, as well as how much he loved him. At remembering all these things, Axel looks up to the stars.

"_Glory!" _the read head shouts.

After his cry, Axel stands and walks over to the edge of the roof. He looks among the city, the shinning lights. He begins to remember everything about this boy. About his love.

_"Find Glory in a song that rings true, truth like a blazing fire, an eternal flame."_

Axel remembers how lost this boy was. He parents didn't agree with him having a rock star partner, let alone him being a boy. After turning to drugs, the boy changed, he became absorb in the life of a druggie and it was eating him alive, but only Axel could see what he was becoming.

_"Find one song, a song about love, Glory, from the soul of a young man. A young man."_

After about 4 months, Axel began to get worried for the boy, and his suspicions were right.

_"Find the one song before the virus takes hold, Glory, like a sunset. One song to redeem this empty life."_

Axel begged the boy to be checked by a doctor, and when the test results came back, all broke loose. The boy was HIV Positive. Axel knew in his gut that this was gonna happen but he didn't know how to stop it. He couldn't. All he could do was love the blond, until his final breath.

_"Time flies, and there's no need to endure anymore. Time dies."_ Axel whispers.

His memories of the boy with live forever. He shall never forget the love he held, and how he let it slip through his fingers.


	6. Light My Candle

Chapter 6: Light My Candle

_Previously:_

"_Time flies, and there's no need to endure anymore. Time dies." Axel whispers._

_ His memories of the boy with live forever. He shall never forget the love he held, and how he let it slip through his fingers._

With recollected thoughts, Axel walks down the steps to his part of the apartment building. After he enters his room, a young blond walks up the stairs to his door. He is holding a single lite candle and is holding a blanket around his shoulders. He smiles at Axels retreating back and blows out his candle.

When Axel enters his room, he walks over to the couch and put his guitar down. About a few minutes later, there is a knock at the down. Axel laughs and shakes his head. He walks over to the door.

_"What did you forget?"_ he says, opening the door to reveal a blond.

_"Got a light?"_ he asks, smiling.

_"I know you. You're-you're shivering."_ Axel says, side stepping to let the blond in side.

_"It's nothing they turned off my heat. And I'm just a little weak on my feet. Would you light my candle?"_ the blond asks, showing Axel his candle.

Axel isn't exactly listening to his voice, all he sees in his features. He takes off his coats and puts it around the blond's shoulders.

_"What are you staring at?"_ the blond asked, turning his head to the side.

_"Nothing,"_ Axel replies, _"your hair in the moonlight. You look familiar."_

As Axel lights the candle, the blond starts to fall forward. Axel catches him, looking into his eyes. Green meeting Blue once again.

_"Can you make it?"_ the red head asked.

The young boy smiles and walks away from Axel, exploring the room.

_"Just haven't eaten much today at least the room stopped spinning anyway_," He explains, looking at Axel to find the red head starting at him again. "What?"

_ "Nothing. Your smile reminded me of-"_

_"I always 'remind people of',"_ the blond interrupts. _"Who is she?"_

_"He died. His name was Ventus."_

Changing the subject, the blond turns his back to Axel, blowing out his candle.

_"It's out again,"_ He says, looking sadly at Axel, _"Sorry about your friend. Would you light my candle?" _he asked, walking over to him.

Axel looks at him as he lights his candle, he's studying the boys age based on appearance. 16? 17?

_"Well?"_ the red head asks.

_"Yeah,"_ the blond replies, "OW!"

Axel looks at the blond hand, there is wax dripping down his forearm.

_"Oh the wax, it's-"_

_ "Dripping. I like it between my,-"_ the blond starts, walking closer to Axel, grabbing his hand.

_"Fingers! I figured,"_ Axel states, backing away from the blond a little_. "O well. Goodnight."_

The boy looks at Axel and walks away, toward the door. On the way he blows his candle out also checking his pockets. He stops at the door and knock his burnt out candle against it.

_'knock, knock, knock.'_

Axel looks at the blond at his door and smirks.

_"It blew out again?"_ He states.

_"No, I think that I dropped my stash."_ The blond says while turning back into the room, looking around.

_"I know I've seen you out and about, when I used to go out. Your candles out."_

The young blond looks at the candle in his hand and sighs.

_"I'm illin'. I had it when I walked in the door. It was pure. Is it on the floor?" _He asks, getting on all fours.

"The floor?" Axel asks looking at the blond, back toward him.

_"They say that I have the best ass below 14__th__ street. Is it true?"_ the boy asks, looking over his shoulder at Axel.

"What?"

_"Your staring again."_ The blond states, sitting on his heels.

_"Oh no. I mean you do_…have a nice…I mean," Axel mumbles, getting on all fours as well, _"You look familiar."_

_ "Like your dead boyfriend."_

_ "Only when you smile, but I'm sure I've seen you somewhere else."_ He states.

_"Do you go to the Heartless Club? That's where I work. I dance."_ The blond says, looking around.

_"Yes!"_ Axel exclaims_, "They used to tie you up."_

_ "It's a living."_ The boy says, deadpanned.

_"I didn't recognize you without the hand cuffs."_ Axel stated, putting his arms over his head as if he was handcuffed.

_"We could light the candle,"_ The blond asks, scooting closer to Axel. _"Oh won't you light the candle?"_

The red head looks at the boy intently while the blond just smiled at him. Axel gains a smirk.

_"Why don't you forget that stuff? You look like your 16."_ Axel says, standing up.

_"I'm 19! I'm old for my age, I'm just born to be bad."_ The blond replies, standing up as well.

The blond gets really close to Axel and turns around, rubbing his ass against Axel.

_"I once was born to be bad."_ Axel says. _"I used to shiver like that."_

_"I have no heat I told you."_ The blond said, looking around the room.

_"I used to sweat."_ The red head added.

_ "I got a cold."_

_ "Uh-huh. I used to be a junkie."_

_ "Well now and then I like to feel good."_ The blond said, glancing at Axel.

"Oh, here." The red head exclaims, picking something up off of the ground.

"What's that?"

"Oh a candy bar wrapper." Axel said, putting said 'wrapper' in his back pocket.

The blond, not buying his words for a second, advances towards Axel.

_"We could light the candle."_ The young boy says, looking over Axels back to his pocket.

While the blonds getting near Axels ass, said red head put out his candle.

_"Oh whatcha do to my candle?"_ the blond asks, backing Axel into the couch.

_"That was my last match."_ Axels says calmly.

_"Our eyes'll adjust,"_ the boy says, climbing over Axels lap to sit on the arm rest. At the same time, tossing his candle across the room. _"Thank God for the moon."_

_"Maybe it's not the moon at all." _Axel states, pointing at the window. "I hear Spike Lee's shooting down the street."

_"Bah humbug."_ The blond says, grabbing Axels hand. _"Bah humbug."_

_ "Cold hands."_

_ "Yours too." _The blond states, turning Axels hand in his, _"Big. Like my fathers. Do you want to dance?"_

"With you?" the red head asks as the young boy pulls up.

_"No. with my father."_

_ "I'm Axel."_

_ "They call me, they call me,"_ the blond starts, circling Axel, pulling his 'wrapper' out of his back pocket. _"Roxas."_

After retrieving his 'wrapper', Roxas spins into front of Axel, waving the 'wrapper' in his face. The blond smiles and walks away from the red head, shutting the door on his way out.


End file.
